Wall Street moves back into the green as traders eye Fed minutes

Wall Street moves back into the green as traders eye Fed minutes

Proactive Investors

Published

12:20pm: Morning slump doesn't last long Wall Street managed to pull itself out of the red by midday, albeit not by a ton. The Dow was up 84 points, 0.2%, to 34,661. The Nasdaq gained 17 points, 0.1%, to 14,681, and the S&P 500 improved 14 points, 0.3%, to 4,357. "Investor enthusiasm for US stocks appears to be waning, now that we are less than a week away from the start of earnings season," IG Chief Market Analyst Chris Beauchamp wrote. "It is a different story in Europe, where indices have generally been able to hold on to at least some of their gains, but with Wall Street struggling it will be tough for European markets to really establish the groundwork for a sustainable bounce."   Helping the Nasdaq has been the 10-year Treasury yield, which fell again on Wednesday to 1.306%. Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock, for instance, rose more than 1% to $3,716. 10am: Proactive North America headlines: Major Precious Metals Corp (CSE:SIZE) (OTCMKTS:SIZYF) (FRA:3EZ) closes its C$8.5M non-brokered private placement Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc (CSE:AGN) (OTCQB:AGNPF) (FRA:AGW) hits 70% enrollment for Phase 2 clinical study of Ifenprodil for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and chronic cough Gungnir Resources Inc (CVE:GUG) (OTCPINK:ASWRF) (FRA:AMO1) outlines significant IP anomaly at Knaften in Sweden Bragg Gaming Group (TSE:BRAG) (OTCMKTS:BRGGF) (FRA:SL4) adds iGaming executive Chris Looney as chief commercial officer GR Silver Mining Ltd (CVE:GRSL) (OTCQB:GRLSF) (FRA:GPE)  discovers wide high-grade gold and silver zones at its Plomosas project in Mexico Psyence Group Inc (CSE:PSYG) teams up with Clerkenwell Health to study the effect of psychedelics in palliative care Milestone Scientific Inc (NYSE:MLSS) expands sales in Texas as UTMB Health Clear Lake Campus Hospital begins using CompuFlo epidural instrument Phunware Inc (NASDAQ:PHUN) (FRA:2RJ) to license its Smart Residential Solution to mixed-use development Regent Square in Houston Kodiak Copper Corp (CVE:KDK) (OTCMKTS:KDKCF) (FRA:5DD1) hails first drill results from MPD project, which validate thesis that it hosts potential major porphyry system Energy Fuels Inc (NYSEAMERICAN:UUUU) (TSE:EFR) and Neo Performance Materials produce first shipment of mixed rare earth carbonate bound for Europe Evergold Corp (CVE:EVER) (OTCMKTS:EVGUF) (FRA:5EG) announces drill start at Golden Lion property in British Columbia Elys Game Technology Corp (NASDAQ:ELYS) (NEO:ELYS) (FRA:3UW) to buy Nevada sports betting operator US Bookmaking Idaho Champion Gold Mines Canada Inc (CSE:ITKO) (OTCMKTS:GLDRF) starts drill program at Champagne gold project American Manganese Inc (CVE:AMY) (OTCMKTS:AMYZF) (FRA:2AM) says Rocher Deboule IP geophysical crew will test 'Vent Zone' iron oxide-copper-gold targets 9.38am: Wall Street starts on front foot Wall Street got off to a positive start on Wednesday morning, with the Nasdaq moving into record territory in early deals. Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.08% at 34,606 while the S&P 500 climbed 0.22% to 4,353 and the Nasdaq rose 0.38% to 14,719. While markets appear to be in a good mood so far, that could all change when the latest Fed minutes appear later as fears linger of a hawkish shift at the central bank after it said it expects two interest rate hikes in 2023 at the conclusion of its June meeting, as opposed to nothing until 2024 previously. 7:40am: Wall Street to start on the front foot The main indices on Wall Street are expected to start Wednesday’s session in the green as traders await the minutes of the June meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Spread-betters are predicting the Dow Jones Industrial Average will open around 25 points higher while the S&P 500 is expected to rise 8 points and the Nasdaq to jump 81 points. “All eyes will be on the FOMC minutes due to be released later today. The minutes are from the mid-June Fed meeting, which saw the US central bank adopt a more hawkish stance. At the June meeting, the Fed announced it expects two rate hikes in 2023, as opposed to nothing until 2024 previously”, said Sophie Griffiths at OANDA. “Should the minutes have a strong hawkish tilt, they could unnerve investors. However, this meeting was three weeks ago and could be now considered stale, particularly in light of the tick higher in unemployment in the June NFP report and yesterday's weaker ISM services data”, she added. Four things to watch for on Wednesday: Firms reporting earnings today include industrial products maker MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc (NYSE:MSM), lubricant and chemicals firm WD-40 Co (NASDAQ:WDFC) and capital markets group Saratoga Investment Corp (NYSE:SAR) Oil prices are likely to be in focus as a standoff over strategy continued among the OPEC+ group of major petroleum producing countries Traders may also be keeping an eye out for more details on wood pellet grill maker Traeger after it filed for an initial public offering on Tuesday On the macro front, aside from the FOMC minutes there may be some interest in US job openings numbers as well as economic optimism readings

Full Article